Sunday, November 21, 2010

The Wallabies got things back on track with a 32-14 win over Italy on Saturday, despite the scoreline perhaps flattering the visitors in what was at times a closely contested match.

Berrick Barnes kicked an impressive 22 points to add to the early try of Drew Mitchell and the late one by captain Rocky Elsom at the final whistle. Italy defended strongly though and were powerful in the scrum, an area that continues to be troublesome for Australia.

"It's a test match and we were very happy with the win however it came," Elsom said. "Their strength is in the pack and the backs didn't get a lot out of us."

Coach Robbie Deans said he was happy with the way his side got back up following losses to England and Munster in recent weeks. "Obviously I'm satisfied, it was a genuine test match and the boys had to work hard for it," he said. "We were a little impatient in the first half, we created a lot but we didn't conclude a lot.

"That's to Italy's credit, they hung in there and as we anticipated they used field position and a bit of cunning to turn the scoreboard over but our boys showed a lot of composure and we earned the result," Deans added.

Italy scored a dubious try that looked to be knocked on, and were kept in the game via Wallaby errors and some good kicking from Mirco Bergamasco and Luciana Orquera. They’ll take heart from the performance though as they tested a top three ranked side.

The Wallabies head to France next weekend to play their final game on tour, while Italy will look for a win when they host the exciting Fijians in Modena.

43 Comments:

I cannot understand how the wallabies continue to be so shaky. They were great against New Zealand then very questionable against Wales. I think most people agree that they were outplayed by England, but they really shouldn't have been. In June there scrum was one of the best internationally, then it collapsed against Wales. Some of the performances they put in suggest they should be a real contender for the World Cup in 2011, and other times they look like they'd be lucky to make the quarter finals.

I was in Florence, 30 minutes of pure fire by the Wallabies, then as the ball stayed more time in our hands, I almost fell asleep...Even there had been a couple of good movements by Italy in the 2nd half.

As someone who wanted Italy to win, I have to admit the refereeing didn't do Australia any favors (and tended to do some for Italy). Nothing major, but some dark arts going on by Castrogiovanni (good to see Berdos call him on it), a couple of questionable set pieces going against OZ, and a few undeserved penalty calls perhaps.

Italy, though, deserved to be within 4 points of Australia going into half time; their defense was great (as always), their scrummaging (regardless of Castro boring in) was superior, and they even put good pressure on the Aussie lineout. All in all, pretty great stuff.

Their staggered defensive line is surprisingly stable...while it let the Aussies gain a few meters every time, the Wallabies weren't able to break through on runs like you'd think they would...the covering tackles were almost always spot on.

Anyways, it's amazing to think that just a few weeks ago, Australia beat the All Blacks, given how they've been playing the rest of this tour...

One thing that gets a little old is the Aussie commentators who, when the Wallabies start getting penalized a lot, get frustrated and start calling certain laws "inconsequential" or "useless"...

Few weeks ago I would have been happy to be a Australian supporter. But from that game, the back play was average at best, the scrum was rubbish and if it wasn't for the kicking of Barnes the result could have been different.

Australia could and should have wanted to make a statement of losing so badly to England. But they didn't step up, not even close.

I'm an aussie. My points from the game:-Italy scrum is powerful.- If you're side is strong enough, push the Aussies around and they'll get frustrated and make mistakes (also, how many times was Rocky looking for the ref or the assistant refs to make a call?)- When was the last time anyone saw defending team win a scrum in an international? (not including a turnover on a penalty) - Australia have flair, but seem to be losing fundamentals (sometimes its better to just take the ball into contact than offload).- It doesn't seem to me that a lack of talent is the reason Italy are placed 12th in the world. They don't seem to have a plan to actually win games...- It seems more and more like its the attacking team's responsibility to remove the tackler from the ruck than the other way round...

I agree with pretty much everything you said, granite. Regarding Elsom, does Australia not have anyone better to be captain for them? As someone else pointed out, his behavior was not very inspiring or captain-like...would Chisholm or someone else do it better? Or does Elsom simply the most experienced and consistent member of the squad?

I wouldn't worry about Quade Cooper...he's probably an Aussie Ronan O'Gara (but better insofar as his own running game and less so in kicking) who will get run over for many years and games to come.

Also, in another discussion about another game, someone brought up the top no. 8's in the world...and I think Parisse comes up time and time again not because he is an especially extraordinary player, but because he consistently performs well and inspiringly for Italy. Spies, Heaslip, and co. have immense talent and/or potential, but they aren't constantly on-target in the same sort of way Parisse is...that's the difference, I think.

How the hell did they award that try to Itlay? I know they were at home and Euro refs tend to favour Euro teams but ffs, it was knocked at least once, probably twice.Also, why do French refs not make the defender roll away once he's made the tackle. They tolerate so much illegal play at the breakdown.Ruined the game as a spectacle.

It's a shame that most times, NH teams and especially Scotland and Italy play against SH teams willing not to loose, instead of willing to win, that is kind of a different thing. The unability of scotland and italy to score tries is annoying and boring. Gladly England seem to be performing and hope france and ireland get to their best. Wales vs SA was also pretty good, very nice to watch. No the shit agains fiji. But unfortunatly, most games it seems that the chance of winnig a match for a NH side is never there. They just seem to chase the game. Apart from the exceptional england vs australia and the rubbish from scotland vs SA (maybe their only way to win matches, better than nothing)This coming from a european

The ref did everything he could to keep Itlay in that one.Why don't European refs penalise illegal play at the breakdown or at the scrum?All game Itlay were not rolling away from the tackled player, playing the ball on the ground, offside in defence and in the scrums they committed blatant penalties all game.Boring in is ilegal, so is binding on the arm, but it's waht Castro did the entire game. The ref only penalised him once for it.

What's Elsom's problem? He just attacked Lo Cicero simply because Lo Cicero pushed an Australian that was hanging onto him. He's a good player but seems like a crap captain. He seems to lack the ability to speak with any sort of conviction or inspiration. Get Pocock or someone else in there.

Look at the first scrum penalty on here.Look at the angle the Italian prop is goin in at, straight towards the hooker. Look at where he's binding, on Slipper's upper arm.Both of those acts are illegal.He's supposed to go forward straight, not on an angle, and he's supposed to be binding on Slipper's body, on his jersey.By going in at the angle, he's splitting the scrum, isolating the prop from the hooker. It's been illegal for decades.By binding on the arm he's twisting Slipper's body shape, destabilising the scrum so it will collpase. Also been illegal for decades.The refs need to learn the rules.

Just watched the second scrum.Classic illegal binding from the Itlaian.Straight away grabs Slipper's arm, and then pulls it in, twisting SLipper's body and immediatley collapsing the scrum.Should been penalised for illegal binding and intentionally collapsing a scrum, but wins the penalty from the ref who apperently doesn't know the rules.

Yes, it was illegal; Mtawarira did it to Vickery and Bryce Lawrence, a NZ ref, managed to miss it all game. Shit happens. The more experienced player (Castro) did whatever he could to get under the skin of the Aussie scrum. Illegally, yes, but also effectively.

Not much different than what McCaw or Pocock does at the breakdown, or what every single scrumhalf does at the put-in. Illegal is illegal. Unfortunate, but still very much prevalent.

Problem is that Euro refs always favour Euro scrums, doesn't matter what's happening in them.Australia were scrummagging legally, Itlay were not. Italy wins the scrum penalties.If Australia had started cheating like Italy were, does anyone think for a second the ref would reward them. He would immediatly penalise them, because they are not European.The whole game Slipper was binding legally on the body, the whole game Castro was binding on the upper arm and boring in. Who gets rewarded? Castro, for cheating.

I think refs tend to favor the "stronger" side. For example, NZ have a reputation for being great at the breakdown; they steal the ball legally all the time, but they also infringe like crazy. Refs tend to give the benefit of the doubt because they do it so well. Same with SA and the lineout/maul - the SA-Scotland match, SA was getting away with blatant truck-and-trailer and the ref just sat there watching.

Does your condemnation for "Euro" refs mean the obverse is true - that "southie" refs tend to favor southern hemisphere tactics, however illegal they may or may not be? I wouldn't go that far and say that. Just as I don't think all NH referees can be grouped together and have it said that they're biased for the "home side".

Slipper got out-foxed in the scrum. That's all. Berdos caught on in the second half and Castro still won a bit at the scrum, but he had to cut the cheating shit out. Then, when Australia looked to be improving, Castro came off. He was on for one reason - to ruin the Aussie scrum, and he did just that.

I wish Italy were a better team to watch. Almost every test match seems to slump to a level of dull error-ridden mediocrity. If that's Italy's game plan it would be canny enough if it lead to more wins, but it doesn't. It's just stop-start with endless scrum resets punctuated by uninspired back-play. Is ruining the scrum any use when you still get well beaten by an opponent who's off their game? I realise that in Italy the game struggles for a following and player depth is a problem, but when I see them play I often wonder that anybody goes to watch them at all. Don't get me wrong, I love things Italian, I just wish their rugby had a little more adventure about it.

Here we go again, Australia complaining that the scrum isn't being refereed correctly. The basic fact is the Aussie scrum has been poor all tour and looked fairly sheepish during the summer. Get better scrummagers and the problem would be solved, or will the aussie board go whinging to the IRB about scrums being dangerous and they should be taken out of the game...again.

I'm Italian, but also a big fan of Australia (I grew up as flyhalf watching and loving Larkham, and now Barnes)...

There are good spots in what you've written here.

Castro is smart, yes there were a few penalties against him! Right he is our McCaw, refs must be aware of that (after the World Cup :D )

Lo Cicero to me was the key of the scrum: he worked well (and in the rules) against Alexander (strong and technician, even if not a pure tighthead), he isolated him so he couldn't help Moore and Slipper.

Italy doesn't have a plan. Correct, and we play boring rugby! I came to Florence just because I think Australia is an amazing team, but they didn't play well too!When you're lacking of flair, you've got to slow down the opponents! Today it's our only chance.

But a few youngsters are grew up, Mallett should use them, and stop using centres as wings and fielding Canale who always plays horrible!!Benvenuti, played awfully as wing on saturday, is try leader in HC with 4 t in 3 matches!! but he is a 20yo 13!! Just make him play there, pair him with Sgarbi just as in his club!!

Haven't seen a single game this entire tour where Aus, after being manhandled in the scrum, wouldn't complain about refereeing in the scrum.

Yes, even though you are playing teams that have a long lasting "scrum tradition", your scrum is powerfull, solid, well coordinated, and the only reason it falls appart is because of those cheating oppnent bastards and that blind senile ref

Against England, Australia's scrum had no problems at all.They've had two games where it's been a problem.Against Wales and Italy.I won't go into the Welsh game, but instead of talking in generalisations look at the actual scrums.It would mean actually analysing what happened instwead of making sweeping statements based on perceptionr ahter than fact.Watch Castro in these scrums.He bores in blatantly in the fisrt scrum featured here and blatantly binds on the arm.He again blatantly binds on the arm in the second scrum shown here.He bound on the arm the whole game.For all you "I love scrums, but don't actually know what is and ins't legal in them" posters, binding on the arm is illegal.It's supposed to be penalised. So is boring in.So is intentionally collapsing a scrum, something Itlay did all game.These things are against the rules, and make a hash of a game, due to the number of scrum collapses and resets that are then required.Australia enters every game with European teams being told it can't scrum. The opposition teams then cheat and collapse every scrum. The Australian's are penalised.What is Australia supposed to do?Anyone can collapse a scrum if they want to, and since European teams know they aren't going to be penalised for it, no matter how blatantly they are cheating, they just keep doing it.

It's almost impossible to keep your body shape if someone binds on your arm and pulls your arm in. It will twist anyone's body shape. Once that occurs, the scrum will almost inevitably collapse.If your playing Australia you can just cheat your way thru, spend the whole game diving head first into the ground, as you intentionally collapse every scrum, by bidning on the arm, boring in, or just bending your back and diving head first to the ground, and you know that the ref will simply reward you for it.

Here's a revolutionary idea. What if a scrum was done legally. Both front rowers pushed straight and both bound on the body? The scrums would stay up, it would be an even contest, and the game could be played.

Ha, in that second scrum, Castro face planted it, he's lying flat on his belly, while Slipper is still on his feet trying to keep the scrum up!How did Italy win the penalty, Castro just dived straight onto his face???

Woeful strayan performance the Italian scrum dominated? Why were there so many kicks for goal from penalties was the defense that strong? Granted I only watched the highlights but Italy come on I feel bad for Deans hi's n low's. Was the AB's game in Hong Kong fixed to create interest in the sport?

Italy just cheated like buggery.Scrums were a joke, they broke every rule in the book there. They played the ball on the goround, didn't released the tackeld player.It was 2009 all over again, kill the ball, slow down the game, ref tolerates.

The Wallabies are woeful. One win against NZ and everyone thinks they're back on form. But they've since stopped giving the ball to their backline, so they've regressed back to the poor form they were in before. Great job, Deans.